Police declare leisure centre safe after "security alert"

Stewart Paterson

Whitby Leisure Centre will re-open this morning after police with sniffer dogs carried out a search in response to a "security alert".

North Yorkshire Police was called to Whitby Leisure Centre at 5.15pm yesterday evening and in a statement the force said the evacuation was “a precaution”.

Police have not said how many people were inside the centre at the time of the alert, or what activity was taking place inside when they were called to the scene.

In a statement, the force said: “Whitby leisure centre has been evacuated as a precaution following a security alert reported at 5.15pm on 15 February 2017.

Police are on scene and are carrying out a search of the premises with the help of specialist search dogs. We’ll keep you updated.”

On Facebook, Kevan Murray, contract manager at Everyone Active, which runs the centre in West Cliff, said: “Public safety is our number one priority and we are working closely with the relevant organisations to ensure the matter is resolved as soon as possible. We will keep our members and visitors informed of the situation via our social media pages.” Just before 8pm, the police said the situation was now resolved.

In a Twitter post, the force confirmed: “Search of Whitby leisure centre completed, nothing found, safe to return. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation during the incident.”

Shelly Garrett posted on Everyone Active’s Facebook page: “Just wanted to say a massive thank you to all staff involved tonight you all did an amazing job at keeping everyone calm and safe especially the children! X” The centre is due to open tomorrow as normal.